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a  33(5  ^unliap  at  Clat 

SUNDAY,  June  2d,  1912,  was  a 
Big  Sunday  at  Elat.  The  preced¬ 
ing  week  the  evangelists  (19) 
returned  from  their  trips,  bringing  their 
“sheaves”  with  them.  During  that  week 
more  than  seventeen  hundred  confessed 
Christ.  Sunrise  prayer  meetings  were  held 
where  crowds  gathered  with  eager  inter¬ 
est,  often  two  or  three  praying  at  once  : 
meetings  at  10  o’clock  A.  M.,  and  4 
P.  M.  Sunday  morning  5,270  people 
assembled  for  a  three  hours’  service  where 
170  adults  and  23  babes  were  baptized. 
In  the  afternoon  another  three  hourservice 
where  about  700  partook  of  the  Sacra¬ 
ment.  That  day  50  more  confessed  Christ 
and  508  were  promoted  to  the  “Nsamba” 
or  second  year  class,  from  which  they  are 
eligible  to  church  membership  in  a  year. 
Many  of  the  school  boys  confessed,  but 
39  poor  people  who  had  been  overcome 
by  temptation  were  suspended. 


*THE  NEW  DAY  IN  KAMERUN 


A  New  Day  has  dawned  in  Kamerun.  Twenty- 
five  years  ago  the  first  station  in  Kamerun  was 
occupied  by  two  missionaries.  To-day  there  are 
five  stations,  in  which  there  are  51  missionaries ; 
2,261  pupils  in  station  schools,  and  5,332  in  the 
village  schools,  a  total  of  7,593  under  instruction; 
a  church  membership  of  4,309,  and  more  than 
4,431  catechumens  or  those  under  instruction, 
ready  to  be  received  into  the  Church  in  due  time. 
The  amount  of  money  raised  on  the  field  for  all 
purposes  for  the  year  ending  March  30th,  1912, 
the  Seventy-fifth  Anniversary  year  of  the  Board, 
was  $11,107.  The  average  wage  is  not  over  ten 
cents  a  day.  Every  church  in  the  entire  district 
is  self-supporting.  The  village  schools  are  en¬ 
tirely  self-supporting,  while  the  people  contribute 
largely  to  the  support  of  the  station  schools. 
The  New  Day  has  dawned  in  Kamerun. 

The  New  Day  in  Kamerun  is  signalized  by  a 
New  Evangelism. 

In  a  late  number  of  the  “Bulu  News” — the 
mimeographed  periodical,  the  only  newspaper  in 
all  Bulu  land,  is  the  statement : 

“Many  men  are  thinking  of  the  Gospel  in 
these  days.  They  want  to  be  Christians  but 
do  not  know  what  to  do  about  their  many 


♦rtiennan  Kamerun  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa 
extends  from  British  Nigeria  on  the  north  to 
the  Frencli  Congo  on  the  south,  covering  some 
20  degrees  of  latitude  and  embracing  191,130  sq. 
miles.  The  northern  half  is  occupied  by  tbe 
Basle  Mission.  The  only  Protestant  denomina¬ 
tion  at  work  in  the  southern  half  is  the  Presby¬ 
terian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions.  The  jiart  of 
the  Kamerun  occupied  by  our  West  Africa  Mis¬ 
sion  extends  eastward  from  Batanga  on  the  coast, 
some  186  miles  to  Motet,  the  furthest  station, 
and  embraces  tbe  stations  of  Batanga,  occupied 
in  1885;  Ffulen,  1893;  Elat,  1895;  MacLean, 
ISP^nhd  Mctet,  1909.1 


1 


wives.  Since  the  Word  came  to  Bulu,  the 
leading  men  have  not  listened  to  it  as  they 
are  now  doing  these  days.  It  is  not  one 
place  alone,  but  starting  at  the  coast  and 
extending  into  the  interior.” 

“Herr  Johnston  came  from  the  coast  the 
other  day,  and  when  he  reached  Nko’olon, 
Sabata,  the  headman,  started  to  talk.  He 
had  talked  of  these  things  many  times  in 
the  past.  Now  he  says  he  will  do.” 

“At  another  town  the  headman  said  he 
would  walk  through  the  town  with  Herr 
Johnston.  Before  they  parted  the  head¬ 
man  said  he  had  fought  the  Word  of  God 
for  years;  now  he  wanted  to  be  told  what 
to  do  to  be  saved.” 

This  man  has  thirty-one  wives;  the  question  of 
disposing  of  them  in  a  proper  way  is  no  small 
matter.  It  affects  the  entire  social  structure  of 
the  native  society. 

The  new  evangelism  affects  all  classes,  the 
young  as  well  as  the  old,  women  and  girls  as 
well  as  men  and  boys.  “No  one  can  realize,” 
writes  a  worker  in  the  Kamerun  field,  “what  the 
ministry  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  these  young  lives 
means  in  connection  with  the  salvation  of  people 
from  sin.  Not  even  the  missionaries  can  know 
fully,  but  we  see  evidences  on  every  hand  that 
the  children  even  now  are  the  ones  through  whom 
God  is  speaking  to  many  a  father  and  mother, 
many  a  brother  and  sister.  When  you  see  them, 
only  ten  or  twelve  years  of  age,  conducting  morn¬ 
ing  prayers  in  their  home  villages,  and  telling  the 
Word  of  Life  they  had  heard  at  school  with  all 
the  liberty  of  a  grown-up,  you  know  that  God 
takes  the  weak  things  to  confound  the  mighty. 
There  is  a  wide-open  door  and  a  pressing  need.” 

The  New  Evangelism  manifests  itself  in  many 
ways.  Not  the  least  is  the  eagerness  of  the  peo¬ 
ple  to  attend  the  services  on  the  Sunday  and  to 
hear  the  Word  of  God.  On  a  single  Sunday  in 
October,  1911,  there  were  present  at  the  Elat 


2 


Church  4,650  persons.  This  number  is  unusual* 
but  it  has  been  exceeded  on  special  communion 
Sundays. 

“I  was  greatly  pleased  with  Elat  on  arrival 
here,”  writes  a  newly  appointed  missionary,  “and 
that  feeling  has  grown  since  that  time.  There 
were  over  2,500  people  at  service  on  Sunday.  It 
was  a  most  inspiring  sight.  The  large  number  of 
people  the  day  before  clamoring  for  envelopes  in 
which  to  make  their  offerings  would  have  fairly 
alarmed  a  church  treasurer  in  the  home  land. 
My  first  work  was  to  help  count  the  offering. 
There  were  7,354  pieces  of  money,  amounting  to 
358.65  marks.  There  is  so  much  work  to  be 
done  here,  so  many  opportunities  that  one  can¬ 
not  find  time  to  take  advantage  of  them  all.” 

Elat  is  the  largest  station,  but  Batanga,  Mac- 
Lean  and  Efulen  give  evidence  of  the  New  Evan¬ 
gelism  as  well.  At  Batanga  the  communion 
seasons  are  marked  by  additions  on  confession 
of  faith,  most  of  whom  are  from  the  Mabeya 
tribe.  A  few  years  ago  no  missionary  knew 
the  Mabeya  language,  and  not  one  of  the  tribe 
had  been  brought  to  Christ.  In  a  district  back 
from  the  coast  some  six  miles  near  the  conflu¬ 
ence  of  the  Bongola  and  the  Campo  rivers,  there 
is  a  population  of  Mabeya  people  who  are  cut  off 
almost  entirely  from  intercourse  with  other  tribes. 
A  number  of  these  have  within  two  or  three 
years  united  with  the  church,  and  many  more  are 
in  the  catechumen  class.  One  of  the  Mabeya 
headmen  at  his  own  volition  erected  a  church 
building  in  his  town.  The  Sunday  morning,  when 
the  missionary  preached  in  this  church,  built  to 
accommodate  a  hundred  persons,  there  were  200 
present  and  50  about  the  door,  unable  to  find 
standing  room  inside.  The  work  in  the  Batanga 
district  was  never  more  promising  than  at  the 
present  time. 

On  a  Communion  Sunday  morning  at  MacLean 
Memorial  Station  there  were  1,900  present.  The 
next  Sunday  the  number  in  attendance  at  Lam, 


3 


“Manse”  belonging  to  Ubenje  Church,  an  outstation  of  Batanga.  Material  and  labor  mostly  contributed 


an  outstation  some  20  miles  away,  was  700.  At 
this  latter  service  one  of  the  most  influential 
head  men  of  all  that  region  signified  his  pur¬ 
pose  to  identify  himself  with  the  Christian 
Church.  There  are  at  this  station  1,500  regular 
envelope  contributors ;  at  Elat  Station  about 
7,500.  No  small  task  to  write  the  name  of  the 
holder  of  each  small  bag  or  envelope,  and  at  the 
monthly  offering  to  collect  the  gifts,  count  and 
classify  them,  repair  envelopes  or  bags  that  are 
damaged,  and  see  that  all  are  returned  to  the 
proper  parties. 

At  Efulen  Station  at  one  communion  season 
2,252  were  present.  The  preparatory  services 
commenced  the  middle  of  the  week  before,  and 
were  well  attended,  while  half  of  the  Sunday  au¬ 
dience  remained  another  day,  for  the  Monday 
meeting.  Many  who  came  from  a  long  distance 
desired  to  stay,  but  hastened  home  to  care  for 
sick  or  hungry  husbands  or  children.  In  com¬ 
menting  on  this  communion,  a  missionary  writes : 
“The  interest  here  is  not  waning,  and  it  rejoices 
our  hearts  that  so  many  are  coming  and  keep  on 
coming.  Very  often  we  think  of  our  less  favored 
friends  in  America  and  other  foreign  countries. 
Surely  we  have  the  choicest  vineyard  in  which 
to  work.” 

Some  idea  of  the  growth  of  the  work  can  be 
gained  from  the  necessity  which  has  arisen  of 
establishing  numerous  outstations  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  main  station.  The  church  at  Efulen,  which 
a  few  years  ago  could  be  handled  by  one  man, 
now  requires  a  band  of  workers.  Within  a  few 
months  there  have  been  established  two  outposts 
some  twenty  miles  from  Efulen.  The  church 
building  at  one  of  these  outposts.  Alum,  was 
erected  to  accommodate  400  people  by  “sardining” 
them.  At  the  first  monthly  service  held  at  Alum, 
there  were  1,282  persons  present.  The  most  in¬ 
fluential  headman  of  the  district  put  away  eight 
wives  as  evidence  of  the  sincerity  of  his  pur¬ 
pose  to  become  a  Christian.  This  is  typical  of 


5 


oiitstations  around  Elat  and  AlacLean  and  Metet 
as  well.  At  one  of  the  outstations  it  was  neces¬ 
sary  to  remove  the  side  walls  of  the  building  in 
order  to  accommodate  the  great  crowd. 

It  is  not,  however,  at  the  main  station  or  at 
the  outstations  alone  that  the  evangelistic  work  is 
carried  on.  Schoolboy  evangelists  are  sent  to  a 
dozen  different  points  easily  reached  in  a  few 
hours’  walk  from  the  station.  These  boys  con¬ 
duct  weekly  meetings.  The  young  teachers  are 
first  instructed  by  one  of  the  missionaries.  The 
village  schools  are  centres  of  evangelistic  effort. 
All  the  teachers  in  the  village  schools  are  Chris¬ 
tians.  The  Word  of  God  is  taught  daily,  and  on 
Sunday  the  teacher  holds  a  religious  service. 
These  schools  are  recruiting  places  whence  come 
many  of  the  people  to  the  meetings  at  the  out¬ 
stations  or  the  main  stations.  Decisions  for 
Christ  are  often  made  at  these  outposts. 

One  village  school  is  situated  14.'j  miles  from 
the  main  station.  A  group  of  six  converts  made 
the  journey  from  this  school  to  the  station  in 
order  to  be  more  fully  instructed  in  the  doctrine. 
Little  groups  thus  formed  ask  for  the  presence 
of  the  missionary,  and  long  tours  are  taken  in 
order  to  keep  alive  the  flame  already  kindled  in 
some  distant  village.  The  Eton  people,  for  exam¬ 
ple,  located  140  miles  to  the  northeast  of  the 
MacLean  Station,  were  recently  visited  by  one 
of  the  missionaries.  No  sign  of  mission  work 
was  visible  in  the  entire  region  save  that  car¬ 
riers  who  had  heard  the  Word  in  rest  houses  or 
at  the  mission  station  welcomed  him  as  he  jour¬ 
neyed  through  their  towns.  Twelve  miles  from 
the  end  of  his  tedious  journey  the  missionary 
was  met  by  a  group  of  Christians  who  evinced 
great  joy  at  his  coming.  A  few  days’  preaching 
and  teaching,  a  little  work  in  clearing  away  the 
forest  and  erecting  a  schoolhouse  and  dwellings 
for  helpers,  and  the  missionary  returns  to  the 
station,  leaving  two  faithful  native  assistants  to 
evangelize  “the  regions  beyond.” 


6 


Class  of  Kvangelists  being  instructed  at  Klat 


From  a  village  85  miles  southwest  of  Efulen, 
a  little  band  of  praying  ones  sent  a  Macedonian 
call.  “To  me,”  writes  the  missionary  who  re¬ 
sponded  to  this  appeal,  “it  was  such  a  joy  to  sit 
down  with  these  old  men  and  women,  and  little 
children,  and  to  talk  with  them  of  the  greatest 
things  in  all  the  world,  the  things  of  Jesus 
Christ.  One  old  man  seemed  deeply  touched.  I 
called  the  headman  or  chief  of  the  town,  who 
was  a  Christian,  and  we  three  sat  together  and 
the  headman  and  I  taught  the  old  man  just  as 
you  would  teach  a  child.  We  explained  what  it 
was  to  follow  Christ,  then  we  taught  him  a 
simple  prayer.  He  was  in  dead  earnest  about 
the  matter.  When  Monday  morning  came  many 
gathered,  eager  to  say  farewell  to  those  who  were 
to  go  on  the  long  journey  through  forest  and 
river  to  the  Mission  Station.  A  little  band  ac¬ 
companied  us  in  order  to  attend  the  communion 
service  at  Efulen  the  next  Sunday.  Four  days 
of  hard  walking  with  sore,  tired  feet  was  the 
price  which  these  grown-up  children  in  faith  paid 
to  attend  preaching  services  at  the  station.  I 
wondered  whether  I  would  walk  four  days  from 
dawn  to  dark  in  order  to  listen  to  the  preaching 
of  the  Word,  only  four  or  five  times.  Who  will 
say  that  they  are  not  dead  in  earnest  about  their 
salvation?” 

The  New  Evangelism  in  Africa  is  not  afraid  of 
New  Methods. 

The  Men  and  Religion  Forward  Movement  in 
America  has  created  no  little  stir.  It  is  of  in¬ 
terest  to  note  that  there  is  a  Men  and  Religion 
Movement  in  Kamerun. 

“I  want  to  tell  you  about  the  Men  and  Re¬ 
ligion  Forward  Movement  in  Kamerun,”  writes  a 
veteran  missionary.  “I  ran  off  a  few  hundred 
posters  on  the  mimeograph,  and  had  them  placed 
in  the  town.  The  meeting  was  well  advertised. 
Reserved  seats  for  men.  There  were  800  of  them 
in  a  block.  Counting  young  men  and  boys,  2,000. 
The  women  were  curious,  and  they  came  also. 


8 


so  the  congregation  was  over  4,000.  Fifty  gov¬ 
ernment  headmen  were  among  the  number.  Evina 
Minko,  the  biggest  man  in  the  country,  who  has 
178  wives,  was  on  the  front  seat.  The  meeting 
seemed  to  give  all  the  men  a  different  concep¬ 
tion  of  the  gospel.  They  had  had  an  idea  that 
the  gospel  was  not  for  them,  but  for  women  and 
children.” 

The  missionary  did  not  rely  solely  upon  the 
preaching  services,  for  he  adds :  “Last  week  I 
stopped  some  ten  miles  from  the  beach  and  talked 
with  a  headman  whom  I  had  been  trying  to  per¬ 
suade  to  become  a  Christian  for  some  years. 
Fifteen  miles  further  on  I  stopped  and  had  a 
talk  with  another  headman,  the  biggest  one  be¬ 
tween  Elat  and  the  Beach.  The  next  day  I 
talked  with  another  headman,  the  son  of  an  old 
friend  of  mine  who  was  the  leader  in  the  Bulu 
uprising  thirteen  years  ago.  He  told  me  he  was 
going  to  become  a  Christian.” 

The  Spirit  of  God  is  moving  upon  the  hearts 
of  the  men  all  over  the  Kamerun  field.  If  we 
ask  for  the  explanation,  we  find  it  in  the  words 
of  one  of  the  physicians  in  Kamerun : 

“In  my  labors  here  the  Spirit  has  blessed  the 
work  of  preaching  the  Gospel  as  well  as  giving 
medicine  to  my  patients.  God  has  granted  me 
more  fruits  from  my  efforts  during  these  months 
since  my  furlough  than  in  all  the  previous  years. 
This  is  due  to  personal  work,  and  the  personal 
work  is  made  effective  because  of  an  hour  spent 
in  prayer  and  in  study  of  the  Word  before  oay- 
light  in  the  morning.  The  Gospel  certainly  gets 
hold  of  these  people.  I  have  made  a  little  vest 
‘Pocket  Companion’  in  Bulu,  taking  the  verses 
that  fit  these  people  and  their  needs,  and  I  am 
really  surprised  how  no  ‘Word  of  God  shall  be 
void  of  power,’  and  truly  it  is  not.” 

The  New  Day  is  characterized  by  a  New 
Society. 

There  is  a  new  social  order  in  Bulu  land. 

9 


Thousands  of  the  Africans  in  Kamerun  have 
been  taught  to  read.  The  publication  of  the 
“Bulu  News”  is  looked  forward  to  with  great 
interest.  The  "Bulu  News,”  insignificant  as  a 
newspaper,  reveals  the  new  order,  as  instance 
the  following  item  ; 

“The  Mission  has  bought  a  big  machine  (saw¬ 
mill)  to  cut  boards.  It  is  now  at  Kribi.  Mr. 
Hope  went  down  to  see  to  the  landing  of  it.  This 
machine  is  very  heavy,  but  when  it  is  put  to¬ 
gether  and  a  fire  made  in  it  and  water  put  in, 
then  it  can  walk  by  itself.  We  hear  the  govern¬ 
ment  is  afraid  of  the  bridges,  but  we  think  that 
if  we  put  planks  on  the  bridges  they  will  be  all 
right.” 

The  fear  of  the  government  was  well  founded. 
One  of  the  bridges  was  not  equal  to  the  heavy 
strain  put  upon  it  by  the  big  machine.  At  break¬ 
fast  one  morning  the  missionary  physician  at 
Efulen  received  word :  “We  fell  through  the 
bridge  at  kilometer  57  and  Grieg  is  hurt — come 
over  as  soon  as  possible.” 

In  a  few  moments  surgical  instruments,  band¬ 
ages  and  other  articles  needed  in  an  emergency 
case  in  a  forest  thirty  miles  from  the  nearest 
point  of  civilization  were  all  gathered  together, 
and  the  missionary,  mounted  on  a  motorcycle, 
was  speeding  away  toward  the  scene  of  the  ac¬ 
cident.  The  “hurt”  was  slight.  The  machine 
was,  however,  in  the  l)Ottom  of  the  river.  By 
skill  and  patience  and  hard  work  it  was  lifted 
out  of  the  water,  but  with  many  of  the  parts 
missing.  Said  parts  will  have  to  be  replaced  from 
America.  Once  in  place  at  Elat,  this  “big  ma¬ 
chine”  will  prove  a  missionary  indeed. 

The  industrial  work  has  made  great  strides. 
Every  station  has  some  form  of  industrial  work, 
but  the  main  school  is  at  Elat,  where  the  car¬ 
pentry,  chair-making  and  tailoring  classes  have 
produced  wondrous  economic  and  social  changes. 
The  carpenters  build  all  the  dwelling  houses, 
schoolhouses  and  churches.  In  the  shops  they 


10 


The  “I’ig  Machine”  —  The  accident  that  stopped  it  from  coming  up  to  Iflat,  after  about  35  miles  had  been 

made.  It  is  about  120  miles  to  Elat  from  the  Coast. 


make  the  doors  and  windows,  clothes  presses, 
cupboards,  chairs,  tables,  and  all  kinds  of  furni¬ 
ture.  It  takes  six  months  to  get  articles  from 
America,  and  four  from  Europe.  Freight  is  high; 
finances  low,  so  that  the  industrial  workers  are 
kept  busy. 

The  results  are  not  merely  economic.  The 
native  sees  the  workman  at  the  carpenter’s  bench, 
or  lathe,  or  in  the  blacksmith  shop,  making  the 
sparks  fly,  or  doing  tinsmithing,  or  soldering  a 
broken  spectacle  rim,  or  repairing  a  broken  pho¬ 
nograph,  or  a  hole  in  the  tea  kettle,  and  he  gets 
the  idea  that  there  is  nothing  a  white  man  can¬ 
not  do.  “Oh,  white  man,  it  is  a  very  small  thing 
that  you  should  cut  a  new  glass  for  my  watch 
and  make  new  hands  for  it.  Its  heart  is  well,  it 
walks  all  right  inside,  but  there  is  nothing  to  show 
on  the  outside !” 

The  mere  material  benefit  conferred  is  the  least 
of  the  blessings.  Industrious  habits  are  formed. 
It  means  a  great  deal  for^these  people — idle,  in¬ 
dolent,  lazy — yesterday  in  the  bush,  to-day  ap¬ 
prenticing  themselves  for  a  three  years’  term  of 
service,  where  punctuality,  accuracy,  persever¬ 
ance  and  muscle  are  required.  Meanwhile,  the 
Gospel  is  being  taught  them  daily,  and  while  ac¬ 
quiring  knowledge  of  the  mechanical  laws  of  the 
universe,  they  are  learning  that  the  moral  and 
spiritual  laws  are  equally  potent  and  equally  ben¬ 
eficial  when  obeyed. 

Agriculture  is  not  neglected.  “We  have  just 
finished,”  states  a  recent  report  of  one  of  the 
schools,  “putting  in  large  patches  of  peanuts  and 
corn.  Last  term  of  school  we  set  out  100  pear 
trees.  Next  week  we  will  put  in  40  more.” 

The  report  from  the  newest  station  in  the  far 
interior,  Metet,  states  that  “considerable  ground 
has  been  cleared  near  the  building,  and  a  large 
part  of  it  planted  in  peanuts.  About  3,000  plan¬ 
tains,  1,200  pineapples,  and  100  pawpaws  have 
been  set  out,  and  several  varieties  of  fruit  trees. 
There  are  150  young  pear  trees  in  the  nursery. 


12 


Soap  is  being  made  out  of  oil  from  the  palms 
on  the  station  grounds.”  All  this  in  a  section  of 
the  Kamerun  that  two  years  ago  was  a  wild 
African  jungle. 

A  new  desire  has  been  created  by  the  mission¬ 
ary.  When  the  boys  and  men  come  to  school 
and  you  ask  them  why,  they  answer :  “I  want 
to  be  a  minister,  a  teacher,  an  interpreter  for  the 
government,  a  postman,  and  the  like.”  Manual 
labor  they  despise.  The  men  and  boys  think 
garden-making,  cutting  timber,  and  all  manual 
work  belongs  to  women.  It  means  much,  there¬ 
fore,  when  the  new  appetite  has  been  created. 

The  demand  is  greater  than  the  supply.  Trad¬ 
ers  and  government  officials  are  clamoring  for  a 
larger  output.  One  trader,  while  paying  500 
marks  for  chairs,  said:  “You  ought  to  put  fifty 
more  boys  at  this  work.  If  you  had  fifty  chairs 
now  I  would  buy  them  all.”  The  sub-governor  of 
Elat  took  home  with  him  to  Germany  four  of 
the  chairs  made  by  the  Bulu  boys,  in  order  to 
exhibit  them  in  Hamburg  at  the  Colonial  Expo¬ 
sition. 

The  whole  educational  work  is  on  a  broad  basis. 
In  addition  to  the  industrial  there  is  the  training 
of  theological  candidates  and  evangelists,  and  the 
station  and  village  schools  for  academic  study. 
The  schools  are  not  ideal.  On  the  opening  day 
at  the  roll  call  it  is  necessary  to  check  up  ab¬ 
sentees  and  collect  tuition.  “My  mother  died, 
and  I  have  no  one  to  give  me  anything,”  a  stu¬ 
dent  will  say,  when  asked  for  his  tuition.  An¬ 
other  :  “I  am  still  hunting,  but  I  have  not  seen 
it  yet.” 

When  the  roll  call  is  over,  there  is  a  long  line 
of  clothes,  trousers,  blankets  which  the  doctor 
must  inspect  for  contagious  disease.  A  plentiful 
supply  of  ointment  and  vaseline  is  needed  to  deal 
with  the  itch  and  the  jiggers  and  various  other 
pests  indigenous  to  life  in  Africa.  No  small 
task  in  a  large  station  school  such  as  at  Elat, 


13 


where  in  the  hrst  term  of  the  year  1912  there 
were  registered  over  1,200  pupils. 

“Their  general  health,”  writes  the  principal  of 
this  great  university  (?),  “has  been  good.  In  the 
absence  of  a  physician  our  amateurs  have  done 
well.  An  impressive  scene  occurs  twice  a  week 
when  each  boarder  is  treated  to  a  dose  of  quinine. 

.  .  .  The  appearance  of  each  boy  squatting 

down  before  the  doctor,  with  open  mouth  to  re¬ 
ceive  his  dose,  reminded  one  of  the  ‘Squeers’ 
method.  No  doubt  the  absence  of  fever  was 
brought  about  by  this  elfective  treatment.” 

The  school  buildings  are  inadequate,  and  the 
equipment  is  insufficient,  and  the  curriculum  is 
not  all  that  could  be  desired;  but  the  aim  of  the 
educational  work  is  high  and  the  results  large. 
At  the  MacLean  Station  the  following  definite 
educational  policy  was  adopted : 

“We  aim  to  put  the  Bible  in  the  hands  of  the 
people,  train  up  workers  for  every  branch  of 
our  work  to  fit  the  people  for  the  life  they  now 
live  and  will  live.  We  believe  there  ought  to  be 
much  more  stress  put  upon  the  dignity  of  labor, 
and  especially  more  stress  upon  the  training  of 
boys  for  efficient  labor.” 

To  aid  the  pupils  to  attain  a  higher  standard, 
a  clear  statement  of  purpose  is  given  to  each 
pupil,  the  opening  paragraph  of  which  is  as  fol¬ 
lows  : 

“Because  the  American  Mission  has  taken  me 
into  its  school,  I  promise  that  I  will  look  upon 
school  as  a  place  where  people  learn  to  live  a 
life  that  honors  God.” 

It  is  only  within  a  few  years  that  the  Mission 
has  been  able  to  keep  any  large  number  of  wo¬ 
men  and  girls  in  school.  This  is  due  largely  to 
the  Bulu  custom,  which  permitted  the  husband 
or  uncle  or  brother  to  sell  the  wife  or  daughter 
or  sister  at  will.  These  ancient  customs  are  being 
rapidly  overthrown  by  government  intervention 
and  by  the  development  of  public  opinion.  Wo¬ 
men  and  girls  are  now  coming  in  larger  numbers 


14 


to  the  schools.  The  changed  condition  is  well 
illustrated  in  the  following  graphic  description  of 
a  girls’  school ; 

“We  have  here  at  Elat  a  motley  bunch  in  the 
girls’  dormitory.  There  are  fifty  of  them,  three 
mothers  with  babes  in  arms,  one  grandmother 
with  her  daughters  and  two  grandchildren  in  the 
house.  I  do  not  think  the  grandmother  is  over 
35.  She  has  made  good  progress  in  school,  and 
has  proved  to  be  one  of  the  best  women  in  the 
house.  Fully  two-thirds  of  the  girls  are  married ; 
more  than  half  ran  away  to  come  to  the  school. 
I  had  doubts  as  to  the  outcome  of  taking  such  a 
conglomeration  of  material  and  labeling  it  a 
‘Girls’  School.’  But  I  stood  back  of  it,  and 
decided  whether  or  not  a  girl  should  be  taken  in. 
I  kept  off  the  husbands  when  they  came  to  get 
their  runaway  wives.  I  did  not  make  an  enemy 
among  all  the  bunch  of  husbands;  many  of  them 
to-day  are  my  best  friends.  Thirteen  of  the  fifty 
girls  professed  Christ  during  the  term.  The 
change  in  the  girls  by  the  end  of  the  term  was 
most  marked.  These  girls  were  very  unpromis¬ 
ing  when  they  started,  but  as  I  talked  with  them 
at  the  end  of  the  term  there  was  a  frankness  and 
a  manifest  desire  to  do  what  was  right  that  made 
me  feel  I  was  talking  to  Christian  girls.  It  was 
not  a  promising  bunch  of  girls  to  turn  over  to 
a  young  woman  and  say:  ‘Here  is  your  Girls’ 
School,’  but  it  turned  out  well.” 

This  could  hardly  be  called  a  model  school, 
but  the  change  from  the  past  is  so  marked  and 
the  results  so  large  that  it  means  the  coming  of 
a  New  Day  in  Kamerun. 

This  change  is  strikingly  manifest  in  a  letter 
sent  by  one  of  the  native  preachers  to  a  mission¬ 
ary  physician,  who  had  been  on  furlough,  and 
was  about  to  return  to  Africa.  We  give  an 
exact  translation  of  this  interesting  epistle  : 

“Lam,  West  Africa. 

“I  see  very  good  now  because  I  am  able  to 
write  you  a  letter  with  my  own  hands.  Great 


15 


thanks,  great  thanks,  I  give  God,  because  God 
remembers  people  in  two  ways,  ‘mfa’a  ya’  (re¬ 
garding)  the  soul  he  sent  Jesus  to  save  the  soul, 
and  regarding  the  flesh  he  sent  the  Doctor  to 
come  and  help  our  bodies.  Great  thanks,  great 
thanks,  because  of  His  great  mercy.  Praise  to 
Him,  forever.  All  people  ought  to  praise  Him. 
Father  God  of  mercy.  He  never  changes,  al¬ 
though  people  do  wrong.  His  mercy  is  still  with 
us.  I  also  say  again  to  you,  please  write  me 
and  counsel  me  as  you  used  to  do.  When  we 
went  to  Elat,  the  words  you  counselled  me  helped 
me  very  much.  Also  the  people  of  this  place  want 
medicine  very  much,  spleen  medicine,  ulcer  medi¬ 
cine,  worm  medicine,  and  ‘Mintua’  medicine. 
Please  send  me  a  letter  of  the  prices  how  I  shall 
sell.  Stay  well. 

(Signed.)  “Bekale  Mendon.” 

The  New  Day  is  evidenced  by  the  New  Mis¬ 
sion  Spirit. 

The  Bulu  is  not  willing  to  keep  the  Gospel  to 
himself.  He  is  looking  after  the  “other  sheep.” 
Some  two  years  ago  the  missionary  with  some 
native  evangelists  opened  an  outstation  at  Metet, 
75  miles  east  of  Elat,  the  most  interior  station  of 
the  Mission.  Native  men  were  left  in  charge  at 
first,  then  the  station  was  manned  by  two  mis¬ 
sionaries.  It  was  a  wild  country  and  unpromis¬ 
ing,  save  to  those  endued  with  the  New  Mission 
Spirit.  To-day  there  is  a  church  with  an  at¬ 
tendance  at  the  Sunday  service  of  between  four 
and  five  hundred,  a  day  school  of  more  than 
200,  110  of  whom  are  boarders,  and  nine  village 
schools  in  the  vicinity  of  the  station.  These  re¬ 
sults  have  been  accomplished  by  two  missionaries, 
one  of  whom  was  present  not  more  than  half 
the  time.  The  native  Christian  has  been  imbued 
with  the  mission  spirit.  Within  a  few  months 
an  outstation  was  established  nearly  fifty  miles 
beyond  Metet  among  the  Yebekole.  The  Yebe- 
kole  tribe  is  large  and  is  neighbor  to  another 


16 


large  tribe,  the  Maka,  whose  language  dilYers 
slightly  from  that  of  the  Mekuka,  near  Lolodorf. 
Many  of  these  people  understand  the  Bulu,  the 
language  familiar  to  the  missionary. 

Here  is  a  picture  of  what  occurs  on  Sunday  in 
this  remote  station : 

“We  have  big  crowds  seated  in  the  street,  for 
as  yet  we  have  no  palaver  house.  They  sit  and 
listen.  They  are  learning  some  of  the  songs.  It 
is  a  great  pleasure  to  lead  them,  and  teach  them 
these  old  songs  of  Zion.  The  schoolboys,  having 
learned  these  songs,  are  able  on  Sundays  to  show 
others  how  they  can  sing,  and  they  are  of  great 
assistance  to  us.  Each  Sunday  the  boys  are 
scattered  into  companies,  and  sent  out  to  hold 
meetings  in  the  villages  around  us,  and  their 
name  is  legion ;  and  in  this  way  each  Sunday  we 
succeed  in  telling  the  ‘Story’  to  hundreds  of 
people.  They  are  coming  to  know  us  and  to 
realize  that  we  are  here  to  help  them.  As  I 
meet  people  along  the  road,  they  stop  and  ask  me 
about  the  ‘things  of  God.’  Some  of  the  old 
headmen  are  getting  frightened  lest  we  will 
interfere  with  their  evil  practices,  and  are  pro¬ 
hibiting  boys  from  coming  to  school ;  but  this 
will  only  serve  to  increase  their  attendance.’’ 

The  leaven  is  working  among  the  Maka  tribe ; 
as  witness,  the  following  incident: 

“There  is  one  headman  of  the  Maka  tribe, 
among  whom  we  have  never  had  any  work,  who 
sent  for  me  to  talk  school,  and  he  said  if  I  would 
send  a  teacher  to  his  town  he  would  put  up  a 
nice  large  building  for  the  school,  a  house  for 
the  teacher,  and  see  that  the  school  was  filled 
with  boys,  perhaps  reaching  as  high  as  300.  He 
has  been  sending  some  of  his  boys  across  the 
river  to  our  school,  where  they  go  on  Sunday 
afternoons,  taking  food  for  five  days  and  staying 
there  till  Friday;  then  they  go  back  to  their 
towns  and  rest  for  two  days.  But  these  little 
fellows  endure  hardships  trying  to  come  over 
there,  as  they  must  wade  through  several  swamps, 


17 


The  only  Missionary  Residence  at  Metet  Station 
Jvine  loth,  igi2 


walk  about  five  miles,  and  then  cross  the  big 
NIong  River,  sometimes  having  to  swim.  I  am 
hunting  for  a  strong  Christian  teacher  to  go  back 
there,  as  it  seems  to  me  this  is  a  splendid  open- 
ing. 

“A  year  ago  when  I  was  sent  up  into  this  tribe 
to  see  about  starting  some  work,  they  refused  to 
let  us  get  a  place,  and  tried  to  drive  us  out;  but 
now  the  very  old  chief  who  was  so  opposed  to 
us  has  sent  some  of  his  boys  to  our  school.” 

The  terminus  of  the  new  railroad  now  being 
built  from  Duala,  the  capital  of  the  Kamerun, 
will  be  within  20  miles  of  Metet  on  the  NIong 
River.  From  this  main  terminal  of  the  railroad 
canoes  loaded  with  cargo  can  travel  up  the  river 
to  a  point  125  miles  east- of  Metet.  The  loads  can 
then  be  taken  across  country  a  couple  of  days 
and  carried  down  a  large  stream  whose  waters 
flow  into  the  Congo. 

The  day  is  surely  dawning  in  Kamerun  when 
the  Bulu  Christian,  leaving  his  home  and  tribe, 
is  willing  to  go  into  the  jungle  to  an  alien  race 
to  tell  the  old,  old  story ! 

The  handing  over  of  a  strip  of  territory  by 
France  to  Germany,  extending  from  Lake  Tchad, 
almost  to  the  equator,  and  eastward  as  far  as 
the  Schari  River,  has  greatly  enlarged  the  sphere 
of  operation  of  the  Kamerun  District  of  our 
West  Africa  Mission.  The  Bulu  evangelist  may 
yet  have  his  share  in  the  bringing  of  a  New  Day 
into  darkest  Africa. 


New  York,  September,  1912. 


19 


Board  of  Foreig-n  Missions 
of  the 

Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 
156  Fifth  Avenue.  New'  York 


Form  1814 


